Scotland On Line Appoint van der Kuyl as CEO

Chris van der Kuyl has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Scotland On Line, one of the country’s Internet pioneers.

Mr van der Kuyl, 38, who also becomes an executive director of the company, will have overall responsibility for Scotland On Line, reporting to the board and shareholders, D.C. Thomson (DCT) and Noble Grossart Investments (NGI).

Mr David Hunter steps down as executive chairman, and will take up a position as an advisor to the DC Thomson Group and Scotland Online.The move is a significant one for Scotland On Line (SoL), which was established more than a decade ago as Scotland’s first major internet company.

Today it employs 35 people in Edinburgh and Dundee, where its facilities include a major data centre.“I am delighted to accept this appointment at a time when Scotland On Line has significant market opportunities to take advantage of the massive growth in online business worldwide,” commented Chris van der Kuyl.SoL specialises in providing online business, hosting, disaster recovery and security services to the corporate and business markets. Its clients include Scottish Widows, Standard Life and the Scottish Government.

The company runs scotlandspeople.gov.uk, which is a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon. This year SoL won the contract to digitise, license and publish the 1911 census from The National Archive in Kew.A spokesman for Scotland On Line commented: “We are delighted to welcome Chris van der Kuyl as our new chief executive.

He brings great energy and enthusiasm to the company, as well as significant experience in the sector.“The board and shareholders would like to express their thanks and gratitude to David Hunter for all his work and efforts with SoL over the past 12 years.”